THE LIVERPOOL STRIKE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVLI, Issue 13, 27 September 1911, Page 6

THE LIVERPOOL STRIKE.

A SENSATIONAL TERMINATION. DESPERATE RIOTING. TROOPS FIRE ON CROWD. LONDON, August 18. A demonstration organised by tht Liverpool Trades and District Labour Council on Sunday afternoon had a sensational termination. It was held t.i the Plateau. St. George's Hall, one of the tinesf open spaces in the kingdom, and was attended by all grades of transport workers. It is computed that there were fully IOO.OQO people on the Plateau and in the vicinity of Lime-street. When the time arrived for putting a resolution simultaneously from the seven platforms desperate rioting took place, resulting in the calling out of the military and the reading of the Riot Act. Since then matters have gone from bad to worse. Soldiers have been called out to assist the police, and the city is practically in a state of civil war.

Some, extraordinary scenes were witnessed at the laird Nelson-street entrance to Lime-street station, where the first disturbance occurred.. In the polico charge a number of persons were injured, and one or two of the more serious casese were conveyed into the station premises. Matters assumed such a serious aspect that the railway officials on duty inside the station, in order to protect the company's property, got the lire hose out and turned the water on the crowd, holding them at bay until a contingent of the mounted police appeared on the scene and drove the evowd back into Lime-street.

In a very few minutes over 20 policemen and about 50 civilians had been conveyed into the station to have theit wounds dressed; and one of the constables subsequently succumbed in hospital to head wounds, while, another still lies in a critical condition.

A section of the Birmingham constables came along at a run, striking right and left with their truncheons, but when they got to the junction of Limestreet and St. John's Lane they were brought to a stand by a number of men who had taken off their belts, and, swinging, them with terrific force, challenged the officers to advance. The constables manfully- stood their ground for a time, watching for opportunities

for striking at the men. but the latter, gathering courage from the support they were receiving from other rioters who flocked from all directions and threw stones and other missiles, practically forced the police to retire. They were followed by a yelling and jeering throng, volleys of stones being flung at them as they slowly retraced their steps. Tn the meantime a fierce battle was being waged at the other end of Lime-street. From the Plateau there was a regular fusillade of lumps of wood and stones and bottles, .while several opponents of the police advanced to meet them with their coats off.

Hand-to-hand conflicts were numerous, and many men were afterwards to-be seen with broken and bandaged heads, and while some w.-re assisted away by their friends, others had to be carried off by the police for medical attention.

The number of injured civilians admitted to the infirmary was well over a hundred.' The majority of the case? were cut heads and fractured ribs. Every nuise in the hospital was brought on duty,' and all the out-patient eases were dealt with at once. Altogether there were 150 cases.

At the height of the proceedings the Riot Act was read, but this seemed to have but little effect, and it was not until after eleven that the police managed to restore comparative order. 'Die scene of disturbance was then changed once more to London-road and Lime-street, repeated baton charges being made. Sixty arrests were made up to eleven o'clock.

Fierce fighting between police and rioters took, place in Islington, and Byron-street, and the Riot Act had to bo read a second time. In Christian-street the rioters. lit fires and placed obstructions to impede the mounted police, who, together, with the. foot policy, had to make, frequent baton charges. Tire tamper, of the rioters was shown by. tho (jajet .tliat they attacked both firemen and ani’bulauee men. Missiles . wero thrown, and. two fireman were injured. A,,fire .whjeh, occurred, qt a .cork mqnus factory is #lso believed to Irave been the work of incendiaries.

”• SHOPS- WRECKED. - —' Shortly after ten on Sutaday ni ß |,* wantdn acts -of Idestruction were wit,. -Messed : around, Ciirifctian-street. ih,, •nosing of the’ pnbl-ictfouses ineew el- the heteliganS of the neighbourhood. Apparently at a i preconcerted signal a volley of brick's whistled through the air, and in a moment the windows of two pub-lic-houses were shattered. ; Evidently ths bricks came from the roofs of adjoining houses. The destruction continued for several minutes, and all the shop* along a portion of Christian-street were wrecked, crashes of glass following at quick, intervals, bricks apparently ing thrown as if at the word of command. Reinforcements of police were sent for, and cleared away the few strag. glers remainhig about, but for a time the window smashing continued, -the roofs evidently being in possession of the wreckers. MILITARY SUMMONED. Early on Monday afternoon a crowd, of youths assembled in the street armed with bottles, stones, and bricks which they aimed at the buildings and policemen who were quickly on the scene. The mounted police made a series of charges, and the mob dispersed, but they soon returned to the attack. Matters looked so bad that the soldiery had to b« called upon. A hundred of the Warwicksliires, who had been quartered in St. George’s Hall, marched to the scene of tuniuit-. and order was. again secured. Tire disturbance began with an attempt by tha crowd to loot a bread van. The velik-la was stopped, and the rowdies proceeded to carry off the loaves, and when the police endeavoured to stop them they were assailed with volleys of stones and bricks. All the windows of a publichouse at the corner of t hristian-.-treet and Islington were broken, and other business establishments in the locality were also wrecked.

The hostile feeling entertained towards the police was shown by another incident in Uh.ristiun-street. " In the course of the afternoon some constables went to quell a common street quarrel between a man and his wife, when the. officers were violently attacked and had to run for their lives. One of them received a nasty blow on the head from a stone, anj the mounted men and military had to be brought on the scene. Something in the nature of a riot occurred also a-t Birkenhead. A man was arrested for stone-throwing, and when he- was being taken to the station three policemen were set upon by the -lowd, who had armed themselves with bottles from a brewer's dray, and hurled them at the officers. A Nottingham police constable was struck across the face with a bottle . and rendered insensible. He was taken to the hospital, ant for a time remained insensible, but recovered consciousness in the evening. Sir Thomas Hughes, a well-known timber merchant of Liverpool, was subjected to a fusillade of stones from a rough mob, and was struck in the eye. the sawyers anil other men employed at tlm mill were so intimidated, that they left their work'. ’ 'Altogether 200 eases were treated at the Royal Infirmary and the Northern Hospital. Five policemen —three Birmingham and two -Liverpool—and a good many civilians were detained. V ' FIGHT IN THE DARK. Another fierce fight took place in the Great Homer-street district late on Monday night and early on Tuesday morning. A policeman was making a round through the district, which is notoriously, a bad one, when he saw a man assaulting a woman. He interfered, and 1,11 llll ’ man becoming more violent he arresleil him. Imurediat ?ly, the whole streeu filled with a raging mob of men ami women. Further police patrols arriie but were unable to stem the riot, and too prisoner was rescued. The police retreated and awaited the arrival of thnr officers with r -inforcemcnts. M hen these arrived the police held their hands to give the rioters time to recover tlie> temper and go home, but at last, findmrf this was useless, an attempt was mad® to clear the streets. Bakers shops, public-houses, and other buildings ba -their windows broken, and their coil tents looted. When the police chargdi the mob retreated down the alleys an courts, and kept in a volley of »late«» bricks, and other deadly missiles. About midnight 200 men of the 5 <>i shires, under the command of wiaj® Fyfe, arrived. All the streets which tn® ifiqb lu>i<|ing were in practical dat «ess. The street lamps had tinguisbedj.gnd nearly all. the shops

private lioi|*e3-had,/as (»■ precaution, put out all lights. The officer gave. the. order -Fix bayonets,” and then, aided. Ijy the police, with drawn ‘batons, executed a series of short rushes down the streets, driving the mob before him.. The .police, finding that the ringleaders, kept slipping into the houses to wait till the police and soldiers had passed, and then coining out to attack them from the rear, entered the houses with the .soldiersand dragged the rioters out and” sent them to the bridewell. AH tdie time from aoofs and windows a -continuous fire of missiles was kept up on the troops, and the police, and two privates.of the Yorkshires were carried to the rear with {.hocking .wounds. Many of the police ,were also injured. It was two o’clock in the morning before the district was finally cleared. , . AH reports agree that the troops fired two volleys in the air. but the Home Office officially contradicts this statement. In all some 56 arrests were made. TKOOPS FIRE .ON CROWD. On Tuesday afternoon a crowd numbering something like 20,000 congregated ir< Jb-eotland-road and Great Homer-street and the vicinity. They had several Dtriwhes with the police, but- they were trivial by comparison with what occurred al twilight. The people arrested early in the morning were brought, before the Stipendiary and sentenced to different terms of imprisonment. This incensed the crowds of their comrades, who felt that the military' and the police had been the aggressors since the-at-tack on the St. George’s Hall plateau on Sunday. Just about seven o’clock a number of mounted police were drawn up outside St. George’s Hall, and in company with a force of Scots Greys and some of the Warwickshire Regiment proceeded to the police station in Dale street. The mob followed, and adopted a threatening attitude. The. mounted police and soldiers were then joined by part of a troop of the 18th Hussars, and the men and .women who were following were charged and scattered in all directions. The prisoners were, it turned out, to. be taken to Walton gaol, and five Black Marias were required for their conveyance. As the Scots Greys and Hussars, accompanied by mounted police, rode in front, at the sides, and in the rear of the vehicles, they were subjected to an almost continuous fusillade of stones and other missiles. To the accompaniment of howls of execration the vaus passed along Vauxhall-road until they reached the corner of Hopwood-street. At this juncture the bombardment became more severe. People on the roofs of the houses showered down stones, bottles, slates, and other - missiles, and two or three men rushed out in front of the constables lining the roads, as if to jfiet into closer quarters with the military and effect a rescue. Half-a-dozen constables at ■ once drew their batons. The crowds, -were for the moment dispersed, but one man, by some means or other, got in front of the others, with the result 'that he was hhot through the head, and later on he. succumbed to his injuries. The man was a carter named John Sutcliffe, 20 years of age, living in Hopwood-street.. Another man who also received injuries from a carbine bullet is Andrew Doolan, aged 32, a dock labourer, the missile go lag through his thigh. The incensed crowd worked themselves up into a state of frenzy, and a company of the Warwicks rode into Vauxhall-road. together with a body of police mounted and on foot. Stones were thrown at the police in Bond-street, end as the result of a police whistle the rearguard of police commenced to clear the mob, and in doing so fi'eety used their batons in hand-to-hand encounters V'lth the crowd, who refused to move. A number of men and some constables were rather seriously dealt with, but no dangerous injuries were caused. •Several efforts were made both during the day- and evening to hold up tramcars. An attempt to do so occtirrdd in the Everton Valley just before eleven o’clock at night. The mountefl police were summoned, and upon their appearance a big mob assembled and subjected them to a fusilade of atones. A police constable named .Smith was struck and fell from his horse, lie had to be treated al the Northern Hospital, but liis injuries are not of a serious rdimacter. So bad did matters become • that tha Riot Act had to be read. The police charged the crowd, whieti was not long •» dispersing. «•.. K . .. The disturbances on Wednesday were

of a comparatively mild character, but the general situation shows no improvement. Public Works are being closed for want of raw material, and there is some danger of a food famine. Although goods are being conveyed from the stations by troops the amount is altogether insufficient to supply the demand, and prices are rising. It is reported that the troops’there have received orders “to shoot to kill,” but this has not been continued. It-is'also stated that a number of Maxim guns have been brought near the town, amt 'that tliese will be used against the' mob in 'case of necessity. Walton Gdol is full of rioters who have bean arrested, and the reserve accommodation 'in ’ Knutsfbi'd Gaol i* beiug requisitioned. • . • >-■ <»